Santisima Muerte, La

La Santisima Muerte, “Blessed Death,” or “The Most Holy Death,” is the goddess in the form of a skeleton. She is a spirit of death, but she is also Death itself, the Grim Reaper in sometimes glamorous robes but holding her hourglass and scythe nonetheless. La Santisima Muerte is loved and feared. La Santisima Muerte began her ascent to popularity in her modern form in approximately the 1950s or early 1960s but she also falls squarely into an ancient Latin American tradition of venerating sacred bones.

Who is La Santissima Muerte?

• She may be a modern manifestation of the Aztec deity, Mictlancihuatl, “Lady of Death.”

• She may be a Mexican manifestation of the European Grim Reaper.

• She may be a spirit who appeared in a dream to a nineteenth-century brujo (shaman, sorcerer) in Veracruz, identifying herself and demanding veneration.

• She may be all or any combination of the above.

La Santissima Muerte is beloved precisely because many feel comfortable asking her for anything, including requests that other saints or spirits will automatically reject either because they are not in harmony with Church doctrine or because they are clearly not ethical. La Santissima Muerte is not petitioned lightly or casually; after all, you are literally conjuring death. It is dangerous to invoke her, but she can do everything, has access to all knowledge, and fears nothing. (After all, she is Death.)

La Santissima Muerte is petitioned for matters of life and death:

• She protects those in life-threatening situations or occupations, including those who work with scary people or who must come into close proximity to them.

• Santissima Muerte is invoked for anything having to do with death, for instance mercy killings or suicides. She may be petitioned for a quick, painless, happy death.

• She may be petitioned for assistance with the dead and with the ancestral realm. La Santissima Muerte can obtain information from beyond and can banish ghosts.

• La Santisima Muerte is particularly popular amongst prostitutes, fortune-tellers, psychics, and magical practitioners of all kinds.

• She is traditionally petitioned by women seeking the return of errant husbands or lovers.

• She is invoked by women to make men behave.

La Santissima Muerte is sometimes confused with Doña Sebastiana, another skeleton saint traditionally venerated by penitential brotherhoods in New Mexico. Doña Sebastiana’s traditional iconic image is a female skeleton standing in a wagon, reminiscent of the Breton psychopomp Ankou.

Although now entering the mainstream, for decades veneration of La Santissima Muerte was discouraged and even outlawed by local authorities. Strong attempts were made to sensationalize her—the rumor that if Santisima Muerte grants your request, she’ll take the life of a loved-one in exchange is blatantly untrue, a scare tactic intended to discourage veneration. (That said, it is always wise with La Santissima Muerte, as with every other spirit, for you to specify beforehand exactly what form your payment will take and when it will be given.

ALSO KNOWN AS:

La Madrina (“The Godmother”); La Comadre (“The Other Mother”); Querida Muerte (“Beloved Death”); Santa Muerte (“Saint Death”); La Flaquita (“The Skinny Girl”)

ORIGIN:

Mexico

MANIFESTATION:

La Santissima Muerte manifests as a robed, sometimes crowned, skeleton.

ICONOGRAPHY:

La Santissima Muerte is traditionally represented by a very distinctive image (the Grim Reaper bedecked in finery), but if one wished to work with her without resorting to a literal figurative image, she is easily represented by a miniature coffin or grave digger’s tools. Some use a skull to represent her or even a skull and crossbones flag.

In August 2007, La Santissima Muerte received a makeover: a new statue was unveiled in Mexico City displaying a brand new look for Saint Death. No longer skeletal, this image depicts her as a more conventional goddess, saint, or Madonna with a porcelain face, long flowing brown hair, and a beautiful gown and veil—her extreme pallor the only clue to her true identity. La Santissima Muerte allegedly appeared to a woman in December 2006 requesting this image, but many older devotees have responded cynically, perceiving that her image is being softened.

La Santissima Muerte and her traditional images are easily available. Statues are color-coded:

• Dressed in black, she is petitioned for protection and revenge.

• Dressed in red, petitions are incorporated into love spells.

• Dressed in white, she is petitioned for good fortune, to break bad luck, and for healing.

• Dressed in yellow or gold, she is invoked for economic success.

Colour-coordinated candles may be lit to reinforce requests and spells.

ATTRIBUTES:

Scythe, scales, crystal ball, hourglass

SPIRIT ALLIES:

Santissima Muerte generally resents having to share altar space but because she is hard to handle, it’s traditional to invoke her simultaneously with powerful but benevolent spirits like Saints Anthony or Elena or Archangel Michael so they’ll keep her in line if necessary. They are complementary spirits: she tolerates them and will allow their images to be placed on or near her altar.

BIRD:

Owl

SACRED SITES:

La Santissima Muerte has at least one dozen shrines in Mexico City, the epicenter of her veneration, plus innumerable public and private shrines elsewhere. A traditional offering involves vowing to light a pair of candles at a set number of her shrines.

OFFERINGS:

Bread, water, incense, candles, prayers and veneration, a tattoo of her image, candy, fruit, flowers (usually white roses: her flowers must always be fresh, not withered), rum, sherry, tequila, whisky, shiny red apples, chocolate, sugar skulls. Cigars and cigarettes are traditionally lit and the smoke blown over her image.

SEE ALSO:

• Ankou
• Guadalupe
• Lechusa, La
• Mictlancihuatl

SOURCE:

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by: Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.